What can I expect to spend....

XMENPorsche · Post by **XMENPorsche** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:57 am

Next year I think I'm going to bite the dust and try to build a Photoshop powerhouse machine. What would you geeks recommend?

First of all, correct me if I'm wrong here, but if I go to a 64-bit processor, can I expand beyond 4Gb of RAM?

Does AMD make a dual-core 64-bit processor?

How much of a badboy vid card would I need?

I know that I'll be looking at somewhere around 1Tb of storage (500Gb HDD, with a matching backup drive).

Thoughts?

Thanks.

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:29 pm

I just built a Dual Core Conroe Intel Machine with 2 GB of RAM, two 500GB Sata Drives, a Geforce 7300 256mb Vid card, DVD Writer, 500 watt SLI approved Powersupply, ASUS motherboard for around $1300. VERY VERY fast machine, but the dang hard drives took over an hour to format.

It was also extremely quiet because the two case fans were low RPM 120mm fans and I used a no-fan silent cooled video card.

Plus I had her buy a 20 inch LCD screen for $265. It is pretty cool. It was for KC's wife.

Spinning Hat · Post by **Spinning Hat** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:50 pm

You didn't answer the mans' questions!

You can only go beyond 4Gb of RAM with a 64 bit OS, if I'm not mistaken. (and a corresponding CPU of couurse.)

Yes, You can get an AMD 64bit chip that's dual core. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103759

And as for the vid, I'd get one that you can readily afford, like an nvidia 7900GTX or better. The prices on those are starting to drop, and you can always go SLI with those later.

And for storage, just for the sheer geek factor, you could go with 2Tb. Most SLI board have 8 SATA ports, and you could easily fit 4 drives into a well designed case.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:45 pm

Most important for an image processing machine is lots of fast RAM.

Lots. Of. FAST!! RAM.

Photoshop won't care about a fancy vid card, so ignore the high-priced gaming boards. You're looking for 2d image quality. Of course, PS does make DirectX calls so you don't want like a 5-year-old card.